Roscon de Reyes

Ingredients

The starter

• 150 gstrong white flour
• 100 mlwarm milk
• 10 gfresh yeast
• or 4 g dried

The dough

• 450 gstrong white flour
• 120 gsugar
• 120 gbutter, softened
• 3eggs
• 100 mlwarm milk
• 10 gfresh yeast
• 8 gsalt
• grated zest of 1 orange
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoonsorange blossom water
• a pinch of ground cinnamon

The hidden items

• 1dried broad bean
• 1small figurine
• food safe, wrapped in foil

To finish

• 1egg, beaten
• candied fruit, sliced
• flaked almonds
• pearl sugar
• whipped cream, to fill

Directions

1. Cut slices carefully and look as you cut. It must be food safe if it goes inside. Wrap it tightly in foil or baking paper. Never use a painted or fragile figure. Warm the milk gently in a jug. Crumble the fresh yeast into it. The milk should be barely warm. Stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir all the flour into the milk. Form a small soft ball of dough.
2. Knead it briefly to bring it together. It needs no long kneading at all. Put the ball in a bowl of warm water. That floating is the ready signal. Warm the milk and dissolve the yeast. Use barely warm milk once again. Let it stand there for ten minutes. It should foam right up visibly.
3. Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the salt to one side of it. Salt kills yeast on direct contact. Keep them apart until it is all mixed. Add the eggs, milk and starter.
4. Add the zests and orange blossom water. Knead it for about ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Add the softened butter gradually. Add it in small pieces at a time. Knead each piece of it in fully. Only then should you add the next. Keep kneading and it comes back.
5. Knead it for another ten minutes. It should become smooth and glossy. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Give the dough about two full hours. Roll it up into a smooth ball. Work it open with both of your hands.
6. Turn it around to widen the hole. Keep the thickness even all round. Make the hole generously large. Start it far larger than you want. Make a small hole in the base. That keeps it out of the oven heat. Set the shaped ring on a lined tray. Cover it and leave it to rise. Give it about ninety full minutes. Brush the ring with beaten egg. Brush it gently so it does not deflate.
7. Use a soft brush and a light hand. Egg gives a deep golden shine. Lay sliced candied fruit over the top. Arrange it around the ring evenly. Press it lightly into the dough. Scatter pearl sugar between the fruit. Wet sugar with a drop of water works too.
8. Scatter flaked almonds over the top. Bake it at one hundred and eighty degrees. Give it about twenty-five minutes. Cover it with foil if it colours early. It must still cook right through. Lift the ring out onto a wire rack. Let it cool right down completely. The crumb sets firm as it cools.
9. Use a long serrated knife for it. Cut it carefully all the way round. Fill it up with whipped cream. A filled one must be refrigerated. Cut it into wedges and serve it. Remind everyone about the hidden items.

Technique

• A hard figurine and a dried bean are hidden inside, and both are genuine choking hazards that can also break a tooth. Tell every person at the table before anyone eats, warn children particularly clearly, consider leaving both out entirely for young children, and cut the slices carefully looking as you cut. If a figurine goes inside it must be food safe, wrapped tightly in foil or baking paper, never painted or fragile and never anything that could shed pieces — or push it in through the base after baking, which is common practice and keeps it out of the oven heat.
• This is an enriched dough carrying butter, eggs and sugar, all of which slow the yeast considerably, so both rises take genuinely longer than plain bread — judge them by size rather than by a clock. Add the butter in small pieces, kneading each fully in before the next: the dough falls apart and looks entirely wrong for a while, which is normal, and keeps kneading brings it back.
• Make the hole generously large, since it closes as the dough proves and closes further as it bakes; a greased ring, oiled tin or bowl set in the hole holds it open and is a genuinely useful trick.

Substitutions

• Pearl sugar holds its shape when baked where ordinary sugar melts away entirely, though sugar wetted with a drop of water works as a substitute.
• Flaked almonds are visible on the surface but tree nut allergy can be severe, so say clearly if you have used them; some rings are filled with whipped cream and some left plain, and both are genuinely made — a filled one must be refrigerated.

Variations

• Orange blossom water is the defining flavour and should not be left out, but three tablespoons is right for this quantity and much more tastes of soap entirely — measure it rather than pouring freely.
• Refrigerating the first rise overnight gives a noticeably better flavour and fits the baking around an Epiphany morning; it is genuinely worth doing.
• The ring is commonly said to represent a crown and the candied fruit its jewels, and whoever finds the figure is crowned while whoever finds the bean pays for the cake. The origin of the custom is much debated with several older festivals suggested, none firmly documented, and the atlas does not claim one.

History

Eaten on Epiphany; whoever finds the figure is crowned, whoever finds the bean pays for the cake.

Frequently asked questions

What is Roscon de Reyes?

Roscon de Reyes is a bread & pastry from Spain: orange-scented ring loaf topped with candied fruit, hiding a bean and a figurine. Eaten on Epiphany; whoever finds the figure is crowned, whoever finds the bean pays for the cake.

How long does Roscon de Reyes take to make?

Roscon de Reyes takes 1 hour plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 12. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Roscon de Reyes?

Yes, within limits. Pearl sugar holds its shape when baked where ordinary sugar melts away entirely, though sugar wetted with a drop of water works as a substitute. Flaked almonds are visible on the surface but tree nut allergy can be severe, so say clearly if you have used them; some rings are filled with whipped cream and some left plain, and both are genuinely made — a filled one must be refrigerated.

What is the most important thing to get right in Roscon de Reyes?

Cut slices carefully and look as you cut. It must be food safe if it goes inside. Wrap it tightly in foil or baking paper. Never use a painted or fragile figure. Warm the milk gently in a jug. Crumble the fresh yeast into it. The milk should be barely warm. Stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir all the flour into the milk. Form a small soft ball of dough.